The invention concerns an plug-in adapter electric power plug for supplying current to electric appliances. The plug-in adapter has a plug housing, equipped with electric contacts and which contains the electrical and/or electronic components that supply the current.
Electric appliances operating on low voltage current are in increasing use. They receive their power from plug-in adapter which reduce the voltage supplied to the appliance as needed. This is also the case for appliances operating with rechargeable batteries. Conventional plug-in adapters used for this purpose consist of a plug housing, which contains the electric or electronic components which supply the current and contact pins which are firmly integrated in the housing. For the supply of current the adapter is plugged into an electric socket or wall outlet. Since different wall socket outlets are used in different countries, e.g., Germany, Great Britain, the U.S.A., Australia, etc., plug-in adapters are on the market with correspondingly arranged and sized contact pins. A consequence of this is that when transportable electric appliances, e.g., laptop computers, video recorders, mobile telephones, etc., are taken along on trips to such countries, an appropriately constructed power plug is always necessary. Conventional adapters for use with different socket or outlet configurations are as a rule unsuitable for such power plugs because as a consequence of their weight they can easily fall out of the connected position.